Hidden in an otherwise unassuming area of a city, or sometimes just outside of one, is a place that few are willing to speak of. The Conclave of Exquisite Pain worships pain in all its forms, believing that suffering is the purest of all sensations. In some places, these proclivities are self-contained and, for a subset of the population, quite enjoyable. When the Conclave turns evangelical, however, their grisly efforts to impose the purity of suffering on others land many to brand the Conclave a cult of the darkest order. To encourage the suffering of its members, many of the more extreme Conclaves trap their entrance and employ creatures or constructs to torment visitors. Such creatures are usually trained to leave visitors alive, so that they may experience further suffering rather than ending it too early.